Circumstances cannot change God’s character: Is this a good thing?
Hamas released four female Israeli soldiers on Saturday under the Gaza ceasefire deal. As part of the agreement, Israel freed two hundred Palestinian prisoners. The hostages were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross before meeting Israeli forces who transported them into Israel. “Fifteen months we haven’t stopped crying, but now it’s from happiness,” said an aunt of one of the women.
According to Israeli officials, eighty-nine hostages—both living and dead—remain in Gaza. The Telegraph has an article with pictures and stories of the captives. They range from infants to the elderly. Assuming they know that some of their fellow hostages have been freed, what must those still imprisoned be feeling this morning?
Would you be encouraged for your future or in despair that you were not chosen?
Would you risk believing you will be freed, or does it hurt too much to hope?
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Such questions are relevant to all who are suffering. And they can lead us to the hope our hearts need most today.
God cannot be less than God
The Bible makes three claims about the character of God relevant to our conversation.
First, it consistently states that he is all-good, all-powerful, and all-knowing. For example:
Second, it claims that he is all three at the same time. He does not sometimes act in power at the expense of love, or the reverse. The psalmist testified: “Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure” (Psalm 147:5; note the present tenses).
Third, it states that his character is unchanging. He is not more loving, powerful, or omniscient today than tomorrow: “I the Lᴏʀᴅ do not change” (Malachi 3:6; cf. Hebrews 13:8). This is only logical: If God is truly the Supreme Being, he must be a God “than which nothing greater can be conceived,” as St. Anselm described him. He can only change by becoming less than God, making himself something other than God.
So we are assured that God knows our suffering, loves us enough to want to prevent it, and is powerful enough to do so. This, of course, is why we have such a problem reconciling the character of God with the suffering in our world. Consider just three events that occurred on this day in history:
- The siege of Leningrad was lifted on this day in 1944. During the almost 900-day German-enforced containment of the city, 650,000 citizens died from starvation and injuries from German artillery bombardment.
- Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz on this day in 1945, showing the world the depth of the horrors perpetrated there.
- Three American astronauts were killed in a launch pad fire on this day in 1967.
Anyone who has ever prayed a prayer that God did not seem to answer understands this hard question: If circumstances cannot change the character of God, what does the suffering of life reveal about his nature?
A Zeus or a Father?
If calming the storm reflects Jesus’ character (Matthew 8:23–27), does the existence of the storm also reflect it? If he had the power to raise Lazarus (John 11:43–44), he clearly had the power to prevent his death, as his sister so painfully noted (v. 21). Which circumstance more reveals his character?
Here we are forced to make a binary choice. As we noted, a Supreme Being cannot change and remain supreme. He is either a mean and arbitrary deity whose nature is revealed by the tragedies our world experiences daily, or he is a God who “is” love. He is either a prideful Zeus, whose capricious nature displays occasional fits of generosity as they fulfill his selfish aims, or he is a loving Father, who redeems all he must allow (cf. Romans 8:28) as a consequence of our sinful nature (cf. Romans 7:14–23) and fallen world (Romans 8:22).
Which is it?
Many people see the character of God in ways akin to the famous “Schrödinger’s cat” thought experiment: a cat in a box may or may not have been subjected to deadly poison. It must therefore be considered both alive and dead until it can be observed. In the same way, God must be considered both good and evil until his actions reveal his character.
If we have experienced more good than evil in our lives, we might justifiably believe that God is good rather than evil. If the reverse is true, we might come to the opposite conclusion.
But this will not do. There is too much evil in the world for observation alone to compel us to believe that God is truly good. But there is too much good in the world for observation alone to compel us to believe that God is truly evil. Therefore, we must make a decision through which we interpret the facts as we have them.
How should we do this?
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
The best way to determine the character of any person is to view them in their moments of greatest suffering, those times when any veneer is stripped away and they are nakedly revealed for who they truly are.
To view God in this way, go to Calvary. Watch the Son of God writhe in the grip of the worst form of torture ever devised. Hear the sinless Savior bear the sins of all humanity and therefore cry out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). Feel the agony of the Father as he allows his precious Son to die so we can be forgiven and live eternally.
Then hear that Son exclaim with his last dying breath, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” (Luke 23:46).
Would you make his prayer yours today?
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“The character of God is today, and always will be, exactly what it was in Bible times.” —J. I. Packer
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